Mike Long On Wendy Long (Updated)

State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long stopped by the CapTon studios on his way home to NYC after a very successful 50th anniversary CPPAC in Colonie this weekend to chat a bit about the three would-be Republican challengers to Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who interviewed with his executive committee mebers yesterday.

The trio: Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, who is the only formally announced candidate in the race at the moment; Internet entrepreneur Marc Cenedella, who ran into a bit of an Internet snafu last week; and attorney Wendy Long (no relation to the chairman), whose potential candidacy wasn’t even on the radar until this weekend.

I asked Long which of the candidate had most impressed him. He half-jokingly accused me of asking an “unfair” question, but then said:

“I have to admit that Wendy Long was more decisive on issues, more clear-cut. She understands the Constitution very clearly.”

“She clerked for (US Supreme Court Justice) Clarence Thompson. She worked in the United States Senate for Senator (Robert) Humphreys and Senator (William) Armstrong, so she has a real grasp of the issues….She may not make the run, but if she does make the run, I think she does well. If she doesn’t make the run, the other two certainly would be in contention.”

Wendy Long serves as counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network. She’s perhaps best known, to those who are familiar with her work, for leading the right’s opposition to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor back in 2009 when the Bronx native was tapped by President Obama to be the first Latina to sit on the nation’s highest court.

According to Chairman Long, she’s still “talking to people” about whether she could make a viable challenge to Gillibrand. Fundraising is a big concern.

Gillibrand had $7.1 million on hand as of the end of September (her fourth quarter report is due out any day now). UPDATE: A Gillibrand campaign source tells The Capital’s Reid Pillifant the senator raised $1.8 million during the last three months of 2011 and now has just over $8 million on hand.

Maragos has said he’ll spend up to $5 million of his own money on his campaign. Cenedella reportedly is willing to at least match that, and I’ve heard the number $15 million tossed around, which helps explain why the Gillibrand people are so intend on trying to kill his candidacy – or, at the very least, maim it – before it gets off the ground.

Mike Long told me he likes the idea of challenging a woman with another woman. It certainly does level the playing field a bit. He also didn’t rule out the possibility that the Conservative Party might go its own way in selecting a candidate, which would be good for Gillibrand if the GOP goes in a different direction, since it would split the vote on the right.

The chairman also left the door open to a move similar to the one he pulled in the 2010 governor’s race, when his party helds its convention early and nominated former Rep. Rick Lazio to try to force the GOP to do the same. (As you’ll recall, state GOP Chairman Ed Cox wooed Democrat-turned-Republican Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy into the race, but he didn’t get onto the ballot at the convention. Lazio ended up losing the primary to Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino).